Environment blog + South Africa | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog+world/southafrica
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'I wasn't contributing anything to saving our beautiful planet': from consumer magazine editor to frog conservationisthttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2016/mar/17/mistbelt-chirping-frog-south-africa-conservation-endangered-amphibian
<p>No longer happy working in media and advertising, Mea Trenor gave it all up to go back to school for zoology. Now she’s racing to save an endangered frog from extinction – if only she can find it first. <br></p><p><br>Last December, Mea Trenor found herself at dusk in South Africa’s Natal highlands picking through undergrowth desperately trying to find a frog. Not just any frog, but a cryptic, endangered amphibian that pretty much no one has ever heard of: the mistbelt chirping frog. Trenor, and her team of “froggers,” had located the frog’s general location by listening for its telltale song, but now they had to find a lone male no bigger than a fingernail in the fading light. <br></p><p>“We knew the frog was right there, within the square meter in front of us,” Trenor wrote in a <a href="http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/?p=8740">blog</a> for the the <a href="https://www.zsl.org/">Zoological Society of London</a>’s (ZSL) <a href="http://edgeofexistence.org/">Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (Edge) programme</a>, which is funding her work. “Yet it took three experienced froggers almost 20 minutes’ of triangulation, on our knees, digging through pine needles and grass to finally see it. It was a beautiful moment.”</p><p>I’m not necessarily changing the world but I do believe in what I do, and that changed my world.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2016/mar/17/mistbelt-chirping-frog-south-africa-conservation-endangered-amphibian">Continue reading...</a>Endangered speciesConservationWildlifeSouth AfricaEnvironmentAfricaWorld newsAnimalsZoologyBiologyScienceThu, 17 Mar 2016 08:42:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2016/mar/17/mistbelt-chirping-frog-south-africa-conservation-endangered-amphibianPhotograph: Clifford DorsePhotograph: Clifford DorseJeremy Hance2016-03-17T08:42:06ZCanned hunting of white lions is despicable – it's time we marched to stop it | Jerome Flynnhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2014/mar/11/canned-hunting-white-lions-despicable
<p>South Africa’s president must put an end to this cold-blooded slaughter, says Ripper Street star Jerome Flynn</p><p>The survival of white lions a free roaming species is hanging by a thread. There is an abominable, growing, legal industry that threatens all the lions of South Africa, both tawny and white, a practice that is so despicable it makes one’s stomach shudder at how disconnected from his heart man can be.</p><p>It is known as “canned hunting.” This practice involves taking cubs from their captive mothers at birth. That means the mothers can go into oestrus and breed again within a few months, rather than every 2 or 3 years as they would in the wild.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2014/mar/11/canned-hunting-white-lions-despicable">Continue reading...</a>WildlifeConservationSouth AfricaAfricaWorld newsAnimalsEnvironmentTue, 11 Mar 2014 07:00:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2014/mar/11/canned-hunting-white-lions-despicablePhotograph: Global White Lions Protection TrustWhite lion in South Africa. Photograph: /Global White Lions Protection TrustPhotograph: Global White Lions Protection TrustWhite lion in South Africa. Photograph: /Global White Lions Protection TrustJerome Flynn2014-03-11T07:00:02ZDurban COP17 climate talks: day 10 diary | John Vidalhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/07/durban-cop17-climate-talks
Climate sceptics parachute in | Royal rumble | COP18 | A more welcome Lord<p>"because no one in the talks wants to be blamed for their failure. China has learned a lot since Copenhagen. Everyone wants to be on the good side now. They want agreement. They have to find something that does not ditch KP [the Kyoto protocol]." </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/07/durban-cop17-climate-talks">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011World newsSouth AfricaGreenhouse gas emissionsClimate changeUnited NationsGlobal climate talksAfricaEnvironmentGreen politicsWed, 07 Dec 2011 14:06:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/07/durban-cop17-climate-talksJohn Vidal2011-12-07T14:06:00ZDurban climate talks: day eight diaryhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-day-eight-diary
Libyan geoengineering plans | People power takes to the streets<br /> | Media's room with a view | Climate change. Isn't. Happening.<br /><br /><br /><p><strong>Libyan geoengineering plans</strong></p><p>South Sudan, the world's newest country, is here sitting next to the Vatican, and so is the new Libyan transitional government, with six delegates. Libya is wildly ambitious and clearly already trying to revolutionise thinking on climate change and science. It plans a monster <a href="http://www.amecosys.com" title="">geoengineering project</a> that would not just cool the Earth by 6C and cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2021, it says, but would reverse global warming, provide power for 2 billion people, lower sea levels and restore the climate of 1750. Wow. How, you ask? Easily, says Muftah Elarbash, who describes himself as a Libyan environmental engineer who is on the delegation. He wants to build, at a cost of around $45 trillion, several dozen giant, 15km wide "venting towers" to create constant winds in the desert to drive massive windfarms which would then electrify the world. "Once that is done the maximum ambient temperature of 26.2C will be reached in 2020 - 6C below the catastrophic threshold temperature of 32". He reckons that by 2080 the climate will be back to that seen in 1750. If you think all that is a bit far-fetched, then Elarbash cites the recent Libyan revolution against Gaddafi. "Libya did mission impossible in eight months with the help of the world," he says. One note of warning: better not mention a return to the British climate of 1750. <a href="http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/march/2.htm#HORACE%20WALPOLE" title="">Horace Walpole, MP, records</a>: "[The year] opened with most unseasonable weather, the heat being beyond what was ever known in any other country". Severe earthquakes and widespread flooding followed.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-day-eight-diary">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011EnvironmentClimate changeGlobal climate talksSouth AfricaAfricaWorld newsGreen politicsMon, 05 Dec 2011 10:41:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-day-eight-diaryPhotograph: Jenny Bates for The GuardianIncoming COP17 president Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and UNFCCC secretary Christiana Figueres speak at a rally at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Photograph: Jenny Bates for The GuardianPhotograph: Jenny Bates for The GuardianIncoming COP17 president Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and UNFCCC secretary Christiana Figueres speak at a rally at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Photograph: Jenny Bates for The GuardianJohn Vidal2011-12-05T10:41:09ZDurban climate talks: we still have a chance to talk about success | Caroline Lucashttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-success
Political will for the capitalisation and operation of a climate adaptation fund would represent positive progress<p>As politicians, negotiators, campaigners and journalists steel themselves for the crucial second week of the COP17 talks in Durban, it's easy to feel pessimistic about this latest instalment of international negotiations.</p><p>The build-up to recent UN meetings has been tainted by efforts to play down expectations, while each session seems to bring about little in the way of real progress.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-success">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011Climate changeGlobal climate talksEnvironmentSouth AfricaAfricaWorld newsGlobal developmentGreen politicsMon, 05 Dec 2011 10:37:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/dec/05/durban-climate-talks-successPhotograph: Nic Bothma/EPACivil society groups protest outside conference centre in Durban. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPAPhotograph: Nic Bothma/EPACivil society groups protest outside conference centre in Durban. Photograph: Nic Bothma/EPACaroline Lucas2011-12-05T10:37:17ZKyoto protocol may suffer fate of Julius Caesar at Durban climate talks | John Vidalhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-julius-caesar-durban
How many nations secretly conceal a dagger and intend to join the countries in Durban hoping to kill Kyoto off?<p>Just one day into the Durban talks and, as we expected, we are witnessing the assassination of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/11/kyoto-protocol" title="">Kyoto protocol</a>. Canada has let the cat out of the bag with its environment minister, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jbUfZjo5ESi4qgMfkGs80mekhkrA?docId=CNG.f2c02c700bcf33947db7403f3c93a92b.31" title="">Peter Kent, saying: "Kyoto is the past" and suggesting</a> that formally pulling out of the treaty is an option.</p><p>If Canada – once Kyoto's friend, now its undisguised enemy – were to withdraw, it would probably be a death blow to the only international treaty that obliges by law rich countries to reduce emissions. The world can just about live with the US outside the treaty, but to have Canada formally outside too, really signals the rich countries' diplomatic flight from the treaty that the world signed up to only 15 years ago. Japan and Russia are set against the treaty, leaving the EU as the only rich grouping of countries which is hedging its bets.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-julius-caesar-durban">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011Climate changeGlobal climate talksEnvironmentSouth AfricaAfricaWorld newsGreen politicsTue, 29 Nov 2011 15:28:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/29/kyoto-protocol-julius-caesar-durbanPhotograph: Cine Text / Allstar/CINETEXTWill the Kyoto protocol suffer the same fate as Julius Caesar? Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar/CINETEXTPhotograph: Cine Text / Allstar/CINETEXTWill the Kyoto protocol suffer the same fate as Julius Caesar? Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar/CINETEXTJohn Vidal2011-11-29T15:28:32ZSouth Africa – where climate change may trigger a toxic timebombhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/26/south-africa-mining-industry-johannesburg-pollution
Johannesburg's mining industry has been a mainstay of the city for decades, but its vast waste dumps are a huge threat – and Mariette Lieferink is leading the charge for a clear-up<p>We meet Mariette Lieferink in a McDonalds near Gauteng, on the edge of Johannesburg, buying a dozen sickly sweet drinks. She's no one's idea of a leading environmental activist. She wears a tight-fitting, scarlet, embroidered Chinese dress, high heels, and make-up. She is nearly 60, a mother of four, grandmother of two and she used to be a preacher. Now she is head of the <a href="http://www.fse.org.za/" title="">Federation for a Sustainable Environment</a>, and works flat out to clean up the massively polluted mining areas of Johannesburg.</p><p>Climate change, she says, is a potential disaster for Johannesburg and South Africa, liable to trigger the toxic timebomb left by 120 years of mining.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/26/south-africa-mining-industry-johannesburg-pollution">Continue reading...</a>Durban climate change conference 2011Climate changeGlobal climate talksEnvironmentSouth AfricaAfricaWorld newsGreen politicsSat, 26 Nov 2011 10:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/26/south-africa-mining-industry-johannesburg-pollutionPhotograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamEnvironmental activist Mariette Lieferink near Krugersdorp, where water contamination levels hugely exceed safety standards. Photograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamPhotograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamEnvironmental activist Mariette Lieferink near Krugersdorp, where water contamination levels hugely exceed safety standards. Photograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamJohn Vidal2011-11-26T10:00:01ZSouth African fisherwomen: 'The whole marine environment has changed' | John Vidalhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/25/south-african-fisherwomen
Warmer seas mean a decline in quality of lobsters – which means there are fewer to catch and harder to sell<p>African fishing is almost always done by men, with the women being left on shore to work in the canning and processing factories. Not in Ocean View, near Cape Town in south Africa. Here the South African fisherwomen's association, drawn largely from some of the poorest townships, has 75 members aged 28-52. They each own a small 5 metre-long boat and go one mile out in the giant Atlantic swells two or three times a week to catch crayfish, or rock lobsters.</p><p>The fish sell in restaurants for a fabulous $60 a kilogram, but these subsistence fishers have strict quotas and see little of that after deductions. The women are allowed to land only 800kg of fish a year and can only go to sea in a short season and when the weather allows.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/25/south-african-fisherwomen">Continue reading...</a>South AfricaAfricaWorld newsFishingFoodWildlifeConservationAnimalsMarine lifeEnvironmentOceansFri, 25 Nov 2011 17:08:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/nov/25/south-african-fisherwomenPhotograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamA member of the South African Fisherwomen Association on the Kommetjie beach near Cape Town. Photograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamPhotograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamA member of the South African Fisherwomen Association on the Kommetjie beach near Cape Town. Photograph: Thys Dullaart/OxfamJohn Vidal in Port Ocean, South Africa2011-11-25T17:08:26ZSouth African energy is at a fork in the road | Phillip de Wethttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/feb/02/south-africa-energy
With a coal-fired past and a part-renewable, part-nuclear future, jobs and cost will determine the country's path<p>In October 2007 <a href="http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page49/page295023?oid=165036&amp;sn=2009+Detail&amp;pid=292523" title="South Africans woke up to the fact that we have an electricity crisis">South Africans woke up to the fact that we have an electricity crisis</a>.</p><p>The problem didn't develop overnight, of course. There was more than a decade of policy failure, as the government swung between a desire to introduce independent power producers and humour union demands that electricity generation remain a state-owned function. That meant no new generation capacity was built even as the economy expanded at a nice pace and an entire segment of the population, ignored under apartheid, was quickly connected to the grid.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/feb/02/south-africa-energy">Continue reading...</a>EnergyRenewable energyWind powerSolar powerNuclear powerEnvironmentSouth AfricaWorld newsAfricaWed, 02 Feb 2011 08:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2011/feb/02/south-africa-energyPhotograph: Nadine Hutton/Getty ImagesA coal depot at Eskom Holdings power station in South Africa. Photograph: Nadine Hutton/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Nadine Hutton/Getty ImagesA coal depot at Eskom Holdings power station in South Africa. Photograph: Nadine Hutton/Getty ImagesPhillip de Wet2011-02-02T08:00:03ZBasic countries to absorb 42% of water demand by 2030 | Juliette Jowithttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countries-water
China, India, Brazil and South Africa will require nearly half of all the water supplies for homes, industry and agriculture by 2030<p>In doing research for a feature related to water, I came across an almost unbelievable statistic from an otherwise sober and respectable report. A day later, I'm still unable to comprehend the scale of it; I keep re-reading it, turning the page around, and saying out aloud, so strong is the instinct that it can't quite be true.</p><p>The report is <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/water/charting_our_water_future.aspx" title="">Charting our water future: Economic frameworks to inform decision-making</a>; it was put together by consultants McKinsey &amp; Company on behalf of the 2030 Water Resources Group, an alliance of concerned bodies including the World Bank Group and big private interests such as the Coca-Cola Company, SAB Miller and Standard Chartered Bank.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countries-water">Continue reading...</a>WaterAgricultureFarmingEnvironmentScienceIndiaBrazilChinaSouth AfricaWorld newsAfricaAmericasAsia PacificWed, 24 Mar 2010 10:51:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countries-waterPhotograph: AFPAn irrigation system in the northern Mexican municipality of Delicias. Photograph: AFP/Alfredo EstrellaPhotograph: AFPAn irrigation system in the northern Mexican municipality of Delicias. Photograph: AFP/Alfredo EstrellaJuliette Jowit2010-03-24T10:51:56Z